Bromley Youth Offending Service (YOS) was not managed effectively and needed to do more to reduce reoffending, said Paul Wilson, Chief Inspector of Probation. Today he published the report of a recent joint inspection of the work of Bromley YOS.

This joint inspection of youth offending work in Bromley is one of a small number of full joint inspections undertaken by HM Inspectorate of Probation with colleagues from the criminal justice, social care, education and health inspectorates. Inspectors focused on six key areas: reducing reoffending, protecting the public, protecting children and young people, ensuring that the sentence is served, the effectiveness of governance and the delivery of interventions.

Inspectors were concerned to find that:

• work to reduce reoffending was poor. Information to courts to help with sentencing was generally good, but planning often did not reflect the reasons why children and young people were offending and neither assessments nor plans were reviewed frequently or well;
• work to protect the public and actual or potential victims was poor. Neither the assessment of the risk that children and young people posed to others or the planning to manage that risk and protect the public was done well enough;
• work to protect children and young people and reduce their vulnerability was unsatisfactory. Too often, case managers did not recognise what needed to be done to protect a child or young person;
• the effectiveness of governance and partnership arrangements was poor. Neither of the two management boards, one operational and one strategic, had supported or held the YOS to account effectively, nor had data and other information been used to scrutinise performance; and
• the delivery and management of interventions to reduce reoffending was poor. Children and young people had to fit in to a group work schedule whether it was the right time to deliver the work to them or not. Their suitability or ability to carry out a programme was not assessed.

Work to ensure that the sentence was served was satisfactory and case managers and other YOS staff engaged well with children and young people. The YOS also responded appropriately to a lack of compliance.

Inspectors made recommendations to assist the YOS and will meet with the Youth Justice Board to discuss how Bromley YOS can improve their performance. Bromley YOS will be required to produce an Action Plan outlining how it will address the recommendations for improvement outlined in this report.

Paul Wilson said:

“Bromley had achieved a reduction in the number of children and young people entering the youth justice system and the most recent published data showed a reduction in reoffending, however, the numbers reoffending remained higher than the average at 43.6% compared with 35.7% in England and Wales. The use of custody had shown a steady rise.

“The strategic and operational management of Bromley YOS had been separated and was the responsibility of different people. This was not working effectively. There were two management boards in place as a result of an historic decision. This arrangement was not working effectively either and resulted in little strategic partnership work. There was some good work to improve physical health and to access education, training and employment. Engagement with children and people was also good, although this needed to improve with parents and carers. Children and young people were not assessed properly for interventions and generally had to fit in with what was being delivered at any one time.”

• ENDS –

NOTES TO EDITORS

1. The report is available at https://www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmiprobation/ from 13 May 2015.
2. The inspection programme of youth offending work, based on a risk-proportionate approach, was agreed by ministers in December 2011. Under this programme, full joint inspections are targeted primarily on areas where there are significant concerns about the effectiveness of youth offending work, based primarily on the three national youth justice indicators, supplemented by other measures, such as recent inspections. Occasional inspections are undertaken in areas that report high performance, in order to maintain a benchmark for good practice. Inspectors chose to inspect Bromley YOS because reoffending rates had been rising for some time and were worse than the national average. Custody rates had also risen, bucking the national trend and offending by Looked After Children was higher than average.
3. These inspections focus on issues not subject to other forms of external scrutiny: work to reduce offending and re-offending by young people; the management and minimisation of the risk of harm that a young person may pose to other people; safeguarding young people from harm (from their own actions and others); and work to ensure they serve their sentence.
4. There are four ratings which can be given: good, satisfactory, unsatisfactory and poor.
5. The inspections are led by HMI Probation, with participation by Ofsted, CQC and HMI Constabulary (and in Wales by the corresponding Welsh inspectorates, Healthcare Inspectorate Wales, Estyn and Care and Social Services Inspectorate Wales).
6. For further information, please contact Jane Parsons at HM Inspectorate of Probation press office on 020 3681 2775 or 07880 787452.